Data Archiving for Trouet-Esper

Trouet et al was released on April 2, 2009 with an SI that did not include any data. Discussion began here on April 3 in the comments here and later that day I posted on it here observing:

Unfortunately, the authors failed to provide any digital data citations (see for example AGU policies on this, though AGU journals don’t require climate scientists – and perhaps others – to comply with these policies), though they provide references to dead tree literature from which the data provenance for 3 of the 4 series can be plausibly surmised. The “tree-based Morocco” data set is from Esper the non-Archiver, previously published in GRL without archiving any data. (Esper the non-Archiver flouted AGU policies requiring use of archived data – not that AGU journals bother enforcing what on paper is an excellent policy.)

On April 5, after coauthor Baker commented briefly commented at CA, I asked him for digital versions of the NAO series and Morocco chronologies used in the article. He notified me today that Trouet had already submitted “the data” to WDCP on Friday and therefore did not send me anything.

I hope (against hope) that Trouet has archived more than just the bare minimum of their NAO reconstruction. Here are other things that one needs to examine this article.

In addition to the unarchived Morocco chronology, they illustrate other series that are not in the public domain: e.g. an Iceland ocean sediment series; also, in some cases, they cite articles that have many series (e.g. Lund et al 2006) and do not specify which series was used, leaving the reader to try to guess what they did. I have no expectation of proper data citations (e.g. in compliance with unenforced AGU policies, but it would be nice to be surprised for once.)

The Esper Morocco chronology is derived from unarchived measurement data, published in Esper et al 2007 in GRL (where as noted in a prior post, Esper flouted AGU policies on data archiving and the referees and editors didn’t care – not that they bother enforcing the policy against anyone). Esper’s chronology incorporates Stockton data that is archived, so Esper is not reluctant to use measurement data archived by others; he’s just reluctant to reciprocate. I’ve done a quick RCS chronology on the ~64,000 measurement data on archive from Stockton up to the mid-1980s and get a different looking chronology than Esper. You cam get different chronologies using different methods, so the measurement data is an essential part of any tree ring-based article, as Esper’s friend, Rob Wilson, will confirm. I hope (against hope) that Trouet has finally archived the Morocco measurement data.

In any event, I’ll see whether the archive is complete and report on my progress.

One Comment

Let’s also be looking for a clarifying comment here from either author that elaborates on co-author Baker’s reference to archiving “the data”.

Of course such a comment would be superfluous if all of the supporting data has indeed been submitted as stated, in which case you have our thanks, and we look forward to seeing your insightful analysis in its entirety.